'Crewe Junction, Evening (No.2)', 1920s.

Oil painting by Norman Wilkinson. The town of Crewe in Cheshire has a long asociation with the railways. As well as being one of the most important junctions on the British rail network, Crewe was the site chosen in 1843 by the Grand Junction Railway (later the London & North Western Railway) for its locomotive building and maintenance works. The works gained a reputation for the high quality of its locomotives, and by 1871, the town's population had grown to 40,000, having been a mere 70 in 1831. Wilkinson studied art at Portsmouth and Southsea Schools of Art. As well as being a famous marine painter, he designed posters for several railway companies and organised the Royal Academy series of posters for the London & Midlands Railway in 1924.